Vegetable Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

It's Meatless Monday!

Thai Vegetable Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I always look forward to our meatless Mondays.  I truly enjoy creating healthy, meatless dishes that everyone loves.  What's even more fulfilling is coming up with unique dishes each time.  I find it really easy to come up with new Thai- style dishes, though.  For some reason those flavors just flow with me.  The herbs, peppers, citrus, soy sauce,  fish sauce, garlic, ginger...all of it!  These ingredients sing a merry little song when I put them all together, and I just allow my taste buds to dance along and guide me.

These Spring Rolls are so light and delicious!  I vary the vegetables almost every time I make them, utilizing whatever I've got on hand.  Snow peas, bamboo shoots, and celery work well too.  The most time consuming part of this dish is julienning the vegetables, so if you seek a short-cut, a store bought broccoli slaw would work really well.  Just note that you will need about 4 cups of julienned vegetables or slaw.  As for the mushrooms I used Baby Bella because that's what I had, but I'd prefer Shiitake.  The Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce, in my opinion, is the perfect accompaniment!   Plus, this makes a lot of Peanut Sauce, so you can use it as a sauce for Asian marinated, grilled pork or chicken... delicious!  And since the sauce is already made it's an easy meal!  You can, however, use a store bought Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, which is also pretty tasty with them.  ( Just not as good as the Peanut Sauce!)

Spicy Peanut Sauce:

1 T. Coconut oil, or Peanut oil
1/2 tsp.  Hot Chili Sesame Seed oil
1 tsp. Ginger, minced
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 tsp. Red Curry Powder/ 1 T. Red Curry paste (amount may vary to taste)
1/4 c. Soy sauce
1/4 c. Agave Nectar
3/4 c. Peanut Butter, creamy
1/2 c Chicken or Vegetable broth
1/2 c. Coconut Milk
1 sm. lime, juiced

Melt the coconut oil in a medium sauce pan.  Add the hot chili sesame seed oil, ginger, and garlic and saute over medium heat for 1 minute.  Add the Curry powder / paste and cook for an additional minute.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer, stirring often, until well combined.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Vegetable Spring Rolls:

10 Rice papers/ Spring roll wrappers
2 oz. Dried thin rice noodles
2 T. Coconut oil/ Peanut oil
1 tsp. Sesame Seed oil
1 -1/2 c. Chopped Mushrooms
3 tsp. Ginger, minced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/3 c. Soy Sauce
1/3 c. Agave nectar
1/2 c. Basil, chopped
1/2 c. Cilantro, chopped
1 lg. Carrot, julienned
1/3 lg. English Cucumber, seeded and julienned
1 med. Red Pepper, julienned
1 c. Bean Sprouts

Rehydrate the rice noodles in hot water for 10- 15 minutes or per the directions on the package.  Drain well in a colander, and lay out on paper towel.  Before adding the noodles to the dish chop them into smaller pieces.  Lay them out in a heap on a cutting board and chop five or six times.  Then horizontally twice.
 

While the noodles are rehydrating, melt the coconut oil over medium heat in a large saute pan.  Add the sesame seed oil, mushrooms, ginger, and garlic.  Saute until the mushrooms are soft.  Add the soy sauce and agave nectar, and stir to mix. 

Remove from heat and add the noodles and stir to coat.

Add the vegetables, herbs, sprouts and mix well.

Now it's time for the assembly...  Fill a large pie plate with hot water.  Very carefully, one at a time submerge the rice papers for about 10- 15 seconds or until soft, but still slightly firm so you can handle them. It works well if you have a helper for this step, so you can have a little assembly line. Lay the wrapper on a wooden cutting board and dab off the excess moisture with a paper towel. 

Scoop about 1/4 cup of the filling in an oblong shape in the center of the wrapper.

Fold the top and bottom edges over.

Then roll from the left to right,  cinching in the filling as you roll.

Serve immediately with the Spicy Peanut Sauce.  You don't want to let them sit out very long, because they dry out.  I've found that any leftovers are best stored in an air- tight container with damp paper towel laid over top to maintain moisture and freshness.